Process of and apparatus for removing deposits from crude-oil stills.



L. MOONEY.

PROCESS OF AND APPARATUS FOR REMOVING DEPOSITS FROM CRUDE O IL STILLS.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT. I6, 1915.

1,174,888. Patented Mar. 7, 1916.

2 SHEETS-SHEET I.

(1 Ho: uc U L. MOONEY.

PROCESS OF AND APPARATUS FOR REMOVING DEPOSITS FROM CRUDE-OIL STILLS. APPLICATION FILED SEPT-16,19l-5.

1,174,888. Patented Mar. 7, 1916.

2 SHEETSSHEET 2.

-wmm. I A L Mooney.

LUKE MOONEY, OFYZBAYVONNE, NEW JERSEY.

PROCESS OF AND APPARATUS FOR REMOVING DEPOSITS FROM CRUDE-OIL STILLS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed September 16, 1915. Serial No. 51,046.

8 New Jersey, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Processes of and Apparatus for Removing Deposits from Crude-Oil Stills; and I do hereby declare the following to be afull, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make anduse the same.

This invention relates to a method of and an apparatus for removing coke from tar stills and has for its object to provide a method and an apparatus of the character described which will be certain in action and struction and combination of parts constituting the apparatus, all as will 'be more fully hereinafter disclosed and particularly pointed out in the claims.

Referring to the accompanying drawings forming a partof this specification in which like numerals designate like parts in all the views,Figure 1 is adiagrammatic longitudinal sectional view on the line 1-1 of Fig. 2 of a still equipped with the invention; Fig. 2 is a sectional view taken on the line 2-2 of Fig. 1 looking in the direction of the arrows; and Fig. 3 is detail view partly in section of the chain and pipe sections employed in connection with the invention.

In the operation of an oil refinery at. th present time, it is usual to distil a large per centage of the crude oil until coke is produced in the still, or stated in other words, the still is usually fired until the volatile products have been driven off and coke to the depth of say from six to fourteen inches is formed on the bottom of the .still. This deposit becomes hard and very difficult to remove. However when it is to be removed fire is withdrawn from the still, the coke is allowed to harden, and steam is turned in, until the still contains suflicient steam to preyent the ignition of the gases uponthe entrance of air, whereupon the -man-heads of thestill are taken off and the still thus is opened to the atmosphere. .The still is now allowed to cool off until the temperatureis depending on the character of the crude oil,

sufliciently low to permit a man to enter the still, and by the aid of an iron bar sharpened at one end andknown as a spud to loosen up as much of the coke as it is possible to do during the short period he is able to stand the gases and the high temperature on the inside of said still. As good practice requires as many runs as possible to be obtained from the still during a year, it is necessary for the men to enter the still when the temperature ranges as high as from 200 F. or higher. In

order to protect the men from these abnormal high temperatures they are clad in additional clothing, their eyes and faces are covered, their feet are protected by heavy clogs, their hands are protected with canvas and usually their knees are provided with an extra thickness of canvas. Clad in this way an experienced still cleaner may work in such a high temperature for say three or four minutes at a time, and sometimes even as long as six minutes as it is possible to withstand these high temperatures for these periods by reason of the fact that the interior of the still is free from humidity, while on the other hand if the atmosphere in the still contained any substantial amount of moisture it would be impossible for a man to enter and stay any such lengths of time at .all. After the coke is thus broken ,up with an iron spud as above mentioned, it is shoveled out through a man hole on the end of the still, and as these stills are often forty-two feet in length it will be seen that still of this character and under the condi- In order tions stated is a most difficult one. to enable men to remain longer in a still it is not unusual at present to have air forced therein, but the men generally object to the air on account of the discomfort caused by its humidity, and therefore as a rule the men prefer to work as long as possible under the ordinary conditions and then to take a long rest-aftereachshort period of work.

In order to overcome the above objections both as to the loss oftime and to the great expense involved in removing coke from stills, the invention now about to be disclosed has been provided.

Referring to the accompanying drawings, 1 indicates any suitable still, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 any suitable openings therein provided with closures not shown, and 7 is a layer of coke or other deposit usually found in the bottom Patented Mar. "2, 1916.

of such stills after the crude oil has been subjected to the usual-heating operation.

8 represents a chain preferably provided at convenient intervals with short sectionsof pipe or bars 9, which chain and sections are placed in the still before the oil is run thereinto and which is allowed to occupy a position on the bottom of the still as is shown in Fig. 1. There are preferably em- 10ployed a plurality of chains 8, such as is illustrated in Fig. 2, each provided with the sectional members 9, and on the interior of the heads 10 of the still there are preferably provided'hooks 11 or other means by which 15 the ends 12 of the chains 8 may be supported during the distilling operation. The still 1 being thus equipped with one or more chains 8 and the ends 12 thereof being supported on the interior of the still, as by the hooks 11, the 'crude oil is admitted to the reachinto the still, or they may even enter Y the same in the manner above disclosed and the ends 12 of the chains 8 be caused to engage with hooks 14. carried by the wire ropes or cables 15, passing over the Windlass or other hoisting apparatus 16, which may be conveniently supported as by the members 17 on the cross beams 18, spanning the two openings 4 and 6 of the still, these beams 18 being themselves conveniently supported by.the uprights 19 leading to the ground or other firm support. The ends 12 of the chains being thus quickly secured to the hooks 14 of the cables 15 power is then immediately applied-to the said cables 15 40 by any suitable means as for example by the hand operated windlasses 20 attached to the drums or other hoisting apparatus 16, and the said chains 8, together with their sectional members 9 are lifted from the bottom of the still, whereupon the coke 7 is broken up into pieces of convenient size depending upon .the spaced relation of the said members 9 and also upon the spaced relation existing between the different sets of'chains 8. It is necessary to see that suificient steam is turned into the stlll durlng the breaking up process to prevent the coke from taking fire and to carry off through the man-heads the excessive heat suddenly released. The breaking up of the coke in the manner disclosed permits the great heat contained therein to quickly dissipate and therefore renders it much easier for the men to enter the still than so would be the case if the coke remains intact.

The coke 7 being thus broken up, it is a comparatively easy matter for men protected as above to enter the still and to throw said pieces bodily upon any convenient conveyer mechanism such as 25 which has'been previously introduced into the still as I through the opening 2 for example. Any

of power not shown. Further the heat being thus dissipated by the breaking up of the coke and the men being more comfortable in the stillthan they otherwise would be,

cold air is next forced intothe still so as to enable the men to stay longer therein. In order to avoid the discomfort produced by any moisture the air may contain, the said moisture is preferably frozen out of the air or the same is otherwise dried before being introduced into the still. Not only does the introduction of cold dried air into the still serve to reduce the initial temperature, but the dried airwill absorb any moisture'that might otherwise-be in the still and thereby still further remove the objections the men have to the introduction of air into the still. After the larger broken up particlesof coke have been thus thrown onto the conveyer 25 and removed from the still, the men next proceed to dislodge any remaining portions of coke with their spuds as heretofore, and

the said dislodged portions are further thrown onto the conveyer with the result that a still of forty feet long may be completely cleaned with far more comfort to the men and in a far less time, when equipped with the above disclosed apparatus than it would be possible to dounder the old system.

It is obvious that those skilled in the art may vary the details of construction, as well as the arrangement of parts and the mode of operation, Without departing from the spirit of the invention, and therefore it is not wished to be limited to the above disclosure except as may be required by the claims.

What is claimed is:

1. The process of loosening a. portion of a coke like deposit from the interior of an oil still, which consists in providing the bottom of said still while free from said deposit with a lifting means; causing said deposit to form above and cover a portion of said lifting means; and then raising said lifting means to loosen a portion of said deposit from said still, substantially as described.

2. In an apparatus for loosening coke-like deposits from the interior of an oil still the combination of means adapted to extend along the bottom of said still and to have said deposits cover the same when set; and means located outside of said still for raising said first named means and thereby breaking up a portion of said deposits, substantially as described.

3. In an apparatus-for removing coke like deposits from an oil'still the'combination of a power exerting means located on the outside of said still; flexible connections with said means adapted to extend along the bottom of said still to underlie said deposits when set, and to be raised up through the solid deposits to breakup the same; and a conveyer means adapted to enter the still and receive the broken portions of said deposits, substantially as described.

4. In an apparatus for removing coke like deposits from an oil still the combination of a chain adapted to underlie the said deposits; and a hoisting means adapted to be connected with said chain and to force the same through the bodies of said deposits, thereby breaking up the same, substantially as described.

5. In an apparatus for removing coke like deposits from an oil still the combination of a. chain adapted to underlie the said deposits; a hoisting means adapted to be connected with said chainand to force the same through the bodies of said'deposits, thereby breaking up the same; sectional members attached to said chain to aid in the breaking operation; and a conveyer adapted to receive the broken portions of said deposits, substantially as described.

6. The process of loosening a portion of a coke like deposit from the interior of an oil still, which consists in providing the bottom of said still, while free from said deposit, with a lifting means; causing said deposit to form above and cover a portion of said lifting means; raising said lifting means to loosen a portion of said deposit from said still; introducing cold air deprived of a portion of its moisture on the interior of said still; and then breaking up by hand from the inside of the still, other portions of said deposits, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature, in presence of two witnesses.

LUKE MOONEY. Witnesses F. E. KLEBER, T. R. HOFFMAN. 

